Crystal Renn on ET (video)

[HSG]

<br>Crystal Renn showed up on <i>Entertainment Tonight</i> yesterday, in a piece that discussed the Madrid ban on emaciated models. For those of you who missed it, below is a link to a minute-and-a-half online video of Miss Renn's <i>ET</i> appearance.

The segment itself delivers something of a mixed message, in the <i>Glamour/Marie Claire</i> tradition. More time is devoted to showing images of skinny catwalk models than figure shots of Crystal, and at least half of her speaking time is accompanied by slow pans lingering rather too long over a horrifying image of the model at a ghastly underweight size. Miss Renn details precisely how she starved herself (which is always an iffy practice, as it invites mimicked behaviour), but she redeems the piece by explaining how her starvation regimen ruined her looks, lifestyle, and self-image, and by affirming how dramatically her life has improved as a plus-size model.

Miss Renn's wardrobe in this TV appearance improves upon the styling choices from her previous TV spots. Black is always an unfortunate colour option, as it makes the body disappear on camera. (Was this <i>ET</i>'s intention? One hopes not.) However, Crystal's ruby-red costume necklace is a striking touch, and effectively compliments her flowing, sable hair.

So, all in all, this short segment has good points and bad, but it does get out the message that plus-size modelling exists, that young women do <i>not</i> need to starve to be glamorous, and that dieting has horrific physical consequences, ruining a girl's health and beauty.

<p><center><img src="http://www.judgmentofparis.com/cr/et01.jpg"></center><p>- <a href="http://www.judgmentofparis.com/cr/et.wmv">Click here to watch Crystal on ET</a>

[Micki]

I also would have liked to see more shots of Crystal than of the skeletal models that the makers of this segment insisted on repeatedly showing.

[Chad]

Contactmusic.com, which is an interesting site because it has regularly featured size-positive publicity pieces involving starlets like Charlotte Church, Kate Winslet, etc., ran a PR item about Crystal Renn today:

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/starving%20model%20renn%20turns%20her%20back%20on%20the%20catwalk_1009673

It's a pretty good piece, as it distills the most constructive statements from Crystal's ET clip and similar appearances/articles into one concentrated story. Full text below.

I hope the message reaches many young women, and helps them liberate themselves from guilt, from diet-starvation, and from exercise-torture, and live fuller, happier lives.

................

STARVING MODEL RENN TURNS HER BACK ON THE CATWALK

Stunning CRYSTAL RENN turned her back on a lucrative career as a top catwalk star and became a plus-size model after trying to survive on just 600 calories a day.

The pretty brunette lived on lettuce leaves and steamed vegetables at the height of her modelling career, when she weighed just 95 pounds (43 kilograms) and decided enough was enough when she had to grab crackers to stop passing out.

She recalls, "I was actually discovered when I was 14 at an etiquette school by a modelling scout and he told me then that I needed to lose about 70 pounds off my body.

"I was eating only 600 calories a day - lettuce for lunch, dinner was steamed vegetables and Fibre One for snacks, and, if I ever thought I was going to faint, I would eat crackers.

"My hair was falling out, my nails were very brittle. I was just a very unhappy person because all I could think about all the time was food." Renn boasts she's now a healthy 165 pounds (74.8 kilograms) and she loves her new career as a plus-size model.

She adds, "I get to be who I am and eat whatever I want and I can actually have a social life because I'm not stuck at the gym for eight hours in the afternoon."